Invictus
by Ghostwriter Redux
Summary: When a young snowboarder gets buried alive by an avalanche when on holiday she finds that dying is the least of her worries. Madi finds herself thrust headfirst into the Vampire Knight 'verse as a result (in Yuuki Kuran's body, no less) and forced to navigate the VK world without wrecking the storyline beyond repair. Pray for her, would you? AU.


A/N: Yes this is a self-insert. No, I don't particularly care. Rated High Teen because I have a fairly filthy mouth *sheepish grin*.

* * *

Disclaimer: Matsuri Hino owns Vampire Knight. I only own Madi (considering she's based off yours truly) and my spelling/grammar errors and I make no monetary gain writing this.

* * *

_It matters not how strait the gate,_

_How charged with punishments the scroll,_

_I am the master of my fate:_

_I am the captain of my soul._

Excerpt from 'Invictus', a poem by William Ernest Henley

* * *

Prologue

\/

I don't consider myself an Otaku. Really I don't. I enjoy manga and anime but I'm not obsessed with it to a frightening extent like some people.

Now, you're probably wondering why I'm mentioning this and I must say that is a very good question. I will be answering it momentarily if you hang tight.

My name is, or rather was, Madeline though I prefer(red) Madi. I say 'was' and 'preferred' because of the immensely sticky situation I have somehow found myself in but more on that in a mo.

About an hour ago (hell, probably longer than that honestly. I'm not sure how long it took me to wake up here) I was snowboarding with my chums. Yeah we had gotten the warning that there had been a few small avalanches on the slopes the night before but there hadn't been any reported for nearly fourteen hours. They were all Size 1's anyways, nothing to be worried about. Besides, it was going to be our last run seeing as how we had to return to our regularly scheduled lives the next day.

Blatantly ignoring all warnings (hindsight, Madi, hindsight) we bribed the lift operator to send us up one last time that night (a hundred bucks not well spent in retrospect). It was smooth sailing at first; my friend Kyle pulled off some pretty sick jumps on the way down and our resident skier, Rachel, flew down the mountain like an Olympic champ. It was just about my turn as I set my board down only to see snow beginning to slip passed my boots and seconds later the ground was ripped from beneath my feet.

I didn't even have time to react.

All the memories of courses I've taken through my life about avalanche safety and what to do if you find yourself caught in one seemed inaccessible at the time. I couldn't breathe, I swear my heart stopped for a few seconds and all I could do was wait until it was done dumping about a ton of snow on top of me.

I retained enough of my wits about me somehow to create an air pocket before my mouth but I couldn't tell which way was up or down. Completely disoriented, my brain chose that moment to say; 'Why Madi, you are one lucky bitch. 1/3 of people who get caught in an avalanche die from trauma before being buried'.

Thanks brain, that makes me feel fantastic about my odds of survival.

It also decided to remind me I have a window of about eighteen minutes of air left before I probably die of carbon dioxide poisoning.

Once again, thanks brain.

The snow was packed in tightly around me so I couldn't even move to try and dig myself out and I hoped to any and all gods above my friends had seen where I landed.

However as you might suspect, I didn't make it out alive (or else we wouldn't have a story, now would we?)

Well, I guess I _could_ be in a coma right now but why of all damn things did I could dream about have to be Vampire Knight?

I cannot stand that series, I got about halfway through the 8th volume when I discovered Yuuki is actually a Pureblood Vampire who's been engaged to Kaname (her brother, ew!) since they were kids, and I had to stop reading as my brain imploded.

Maybe that's why it was reminding me about how shitty my chance of survival was. Cheeky bastard…

Okay, Vampire Knight is beautifully drawn yes and has very beautiful characters but really Hino-San? Why must you make your protagonist such a Mary-Sue?! She needs saving every other chapter, the two hottest boys of the series are fighting over her and she's oblivious to this, and everyone wants her blood.

No. Thank. You.

I must say, I also disagree with Zero and Kaname being the hottest guys of the series. I happen to be quite the Kaien Cross fangirl. Before you go all 'ew, you like Cross!?' on me, allow me to explain. My Otaku friend, Stephen, sent me a picture of Kaien in his badass Vampire Hunting gear one day after he found out I stopped reading the manga and my ovaries exploded.

Poof, gone.

Unfortunately, therein lies my problem (not so much the now-missing ovaries but something a bit more disturbing though I should probably get that checked out at my next doctor visit).

You see, upon waking up in the Vampire Knight universe I discovered I'm not a student at Cross Academy. I'm not a Vampire nor am I a Vampire Hunter. I'm actually currently sitting in bloodstained snow in the body of a young girl who, if memory serves me correctly, is Yuuki Cross, the Headmaster's adopted daughter.

You see where I'm going with this one?

Yes, incest.

Kinda.

And cradle robbing.

But hey! Kaname is rumored to be like a bazillion years old (so my Otaku friend informs me) and he's actually related to Yuuki so being attracted to Kaien isn't all that weird.

Well, it kinda is.

But anyways, what I'm trying to tell you guys is that I'm in the Vampire Knight Universe, opening scene for the very first episode (or chapter, depends on whether you follow the manga or anime), and there's a dude with really fucking sharp teeth coming my way telling me I'm his takeout for the evening.

So I did what anybody else would in that situation;

I, Madeline Carrick now Yuuki Cross/Kuran, screamed for help like a little bitch.

* * *

"Holy shit! Rape!" I shrieked in a rather childish-sounding voice, catching my attacker off-guard with my foul language though he didn't relinquish his tight hold on my throat. Spindly fingers slid into my now-brown hair (I will forever miss being a redhead, seriously), yanking my head back as another weak cry elicited from my lips.

Blood suddenly splattered across the snow in a macabre mural of sorts as I fell onto my ass with a soft thump, the vampire turning to dust shortly thereafter. Standing before me, in all his imposing Pureblood glory, was a 'teenaged' Kaname Kuran, eyes a bright garnet color.

"What a disgrace to all vampires," he murmured, raising his hand and running his tongue over the blood covering his fingers.

Ew, dude. You need to carry some wet wipes around with you or something, seriously.

Those scarlet eyes suddenly turned my way and my breath lodged in my throat. Hino had gotten one thing right, those eyes were hypnotic. Hell, if he told me to jump off a cliff I'd cheerfully ask how high he would like it to be and get right on that.

"Are you alright, little one?" Not having another choice, at least not one I could see, I placed my bloodstained mitten in his outstretched hand and allowed him to embrace me without flinching at his touch (I know! I was surprised too!). If some gods out there thought they were going to get their kicks watching me fumble about in a new universe, they're sorely mistaken.

However, whereas most gods throw dice Fate plays chess, and you don't find out till too late that he's been playing with two queens all along*.

…

Oh god, it's already starting! Stupid chess references in this stupid manga!

Anyways, my life (or afterlife for that matter) is my own. I'm not going to play by anyone's rules.

Unfortunately, that's when the real trouble begins. What happens when I fuck up (like I undoubtedly will at some point) and they find out that I'm not their precious 'Yuuki-chan' (oh, gag me with a spoon) and I change the story (for the worse probably rather than for the better). Hell, my mere presence is altering it right now, Butterfly Effect or some shit like that probably.

Though on second thought…this might work in my favor. I could portray Yuuki as an independent young woman who won't need constant saving! Considering I'm chibi-sized right now and the main storyline won't be starting for another ten years and some change.

A surprisingly evil smirk graced my lips I was careful not to let my 'big brother' see. This has the potential to be quite the entertaining journey.

The board has been set, the first piece now in motion.

Careful Kaname Kuran, you aren't the only one who knows how to play chess around here…

* * *

So? I got this idea when I was trolling about for some VK fics to read and found a few fanfictions about people taking Yuuki's place in VK. I thought it was rather overdone so of course I had to jump on the bandwagon and try my hand at it. It's cliché yes but who doesn't love a good cliché every now and then? This will probably be sparsely updated as it's not something I'm really keen about doing religiously unlike my other stories unless you guys harass me about it. This is also not meant to poke fun at those stories or bash any of them, like I said, I wanted to give it a go and I think it has a potential to be very entertaining (or horrifying. It's all how you look at it after all). I also don't really hate VK (obviously) as it's one of my favorite series. Think of it as sort of a 'fix-it fic', how the storyline could've gone if Yuuki had a friggin' backbone.

*Quote by Terry Pratchett


End file.
